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1839 Phila. letter HISTORIC LETTER WRITTEN ARTIST SMITH
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1839 Phila. letter HISTORIC LETTER WRITTEN ARTIST SMITH
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This folded lettersheet / stampless letter has a circular date stamp for PHILAD. Pa, JUL 1, a 12~ cent rate, and is addressed to W.T. Russell Smith, to the care of Mr. Desleding, Baltimore Museum, Md.,and is a lengthy two page letter written by Mary to 'Dear Sweet bubby'. Obviously, this is his wife Mary. The headline is Sunday after June 30th / 39 Phila. T's also a small enclosure of two pages of writing by Mary, it seems she had a little more to write on Sunday night. The addressee of this letter was the artist William Russell Smith. From an online biography, in part: ".... painter of grand-scale landscapes in the mid 19th century, Russell Smith was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and emigrated with his parents in 1819 to western Pennsylvania w he grew up in Pittsburgh. His birth name was William Thompson Russell Smith. He was self-taught as an artist, and became a highly successful scenic designer, scientific illustrator, as well as panoramic landscape painter ..." For more details on his life you could find the book "Russell Smith, Romantic Realist" , by Virginia E. Lewis, University of Pittsburgh Press, c. 1956. From this book, you can see that his mother's name was Margaret Russell, he had a sister named Isabella and a niece Miss Mary Sample. Lots more writing in that book, I found the at a state library and only had time to skim through it (it wasn't available for check out). Mary Wilson Smith was an artist in her own right. I believe you can see some of her artwork on the internet. What a magnificent companion piece this letter would be to one of her paintings! See my other auctions for more letters sent to Russell Smith. With these letters you could write an article for a history or genealogy magazine, and shed some new light on the family background of Russell Smith. Some abstracts: "Dear sweet bubby, according to your directions, I will begin by telling you that little Xanthus is still well and is as good a little boy as ever was. He has been better since he was sick than he ever was before and seems to grow a great deal more intelligent and ..." "I was ready to cry when I read of your misfortune Oh! if I had only been t to have assited you I guess that it is the last time you will leave home, with only one pair of looneys , as you say." "Mr. Shepherd goes to Baltimore to morrow in the second boat and his sister in law Miss Fontaine with him ..." "Mr. Phillips and McClurg called last evening to borrow your sketching case, which of course I could not lend them. Mr. P. wanted to know when you would come home. I suppose you are, by this time, enjoying yourself at Washington; you seem bubbly, to have the good luck to fall in with friends or to make them wver you go, by your kindness and good nature. I am sorry that you will not have another opportunity of seeing Mr. Gilmore's Collection. He might have invited you to come t whenever you liked, what a pity it is that riches should be the means of one's becoming possessed of so many pictures and then not allowing persons of worth free access to them." "I pity Baltimore, not to own a pallet knife. I think I must send yours to you, you may yet have occasion for it. I would like to have painted some before you come home but I have not the time to do it. You will think, 'poor sissum your painting days are over' I don't think so though for I will get you to hold But when you return whilst I paint. T was a meeting of the society last week." And a lot more writing.Condition of the letter rates good. Top fold above front cover area, w the seal was, is gone on the left side, tear goes into front cover area some, doesn't touch or affect the writing at all. As usual with stampless letters, after writing on one or more sides of a sheet of paper, the letter was folded several times and mailed. Please note that most stampless letters have faults such file folds, tears at and opposite the sealing wax area, and some stains / wear / tear and t I hope the scan gives you a ...
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